What do Middle English sermons reveal about prayer - the most elusive yet widespread ritual of the Middle Ages?

Abstract

This thesis considers the performances, places, and functions of lay prayer revealed by Middle English sermons, dating mainly from the late 14th and early 15th centuries. These collections include John Mirk’s Festial, English Wycliffe Sermons and Jacob’s Well. My examination of these largely unexplored texts demonstrates the centrality of prayer as a devotional ideal that was widely preached to lay audiences. In this material prayer is treated as a conduit that allowed individuals to explore and transform their inner selves and to assess personal sin. I demonstrate, moreover, that personal prayer was not only a means for affective interiorization, but also entailed communal ritualized practices which took place during Mass and parish processions, punctuated by gestures and actions. These performative aspects, I argue, point to sophisticated lay spiritual agency and the similarity between the lay and clerical/monastic practice. Furthermore, my thesis indicates that prayer was deeply embedded in the fabric of late medieval society; tied to ideas of religious reform as well as to the reinforcement of social hierarchies. In establishing these points, I challenge, among others, Roy Hammerling’s characterization of lay prayer in Latin as ignorant. This thesis also interrogates Caroline Walker Bynum’s suggestion that there was a fragmentation between individual religious experience and community after the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). This analysis also compares treatments of prayer in Wycliffite sermons with those in traditional collections, such as Mirk’s Festial. My comparison underlines the subtle devotional nuances which distinguish Wycliffite texts. Overall, this research reveals significant tensions surrounding interior and exterior performances, the unified and disrupted places where laypeople prayed, and in the penitential and affective ways prayers were used. This thesis will interest scholars of medieval religion, sermons, and Wycliffite literature. It contributes to research on devotion, lay emotional experience, studies of interiority, sacred space, and liturgical processions.

Date of Award	10 Dec 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Sponsors	South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership
Supervisor	Rita E M Langer (Supervisor), Carolyn Muessig (Supervisor) & Eddie Jones (Supervisor)